Disney Rejects Ron DeSantis’ Desire To Kill Retaliation Suit; “The Governor Seeks To Evade Responsibility For His Actions,” Mouse House Says

deadline.com:

Ron DeSantis has been having a hard time out on the campaign trail lately convincing Republican voters that he should be their presidential nominee, and the Walt Disney Company isn’t about to make things any easier for the Florida governor.

As dictated by federal court schedules, the Bob Iger-run media conglomerate filed its response today to DeSantis’ June 26 motion to toss out the Mouse House’s retaliation and free speech suit against the ambitious so-called anti-woke politician.

And Disney didn’t mince words. “This case presents the fundamental question whether the Governor and the State can escape accountability for their open defiance of our Nation’s most cherished liberties,” Disney said Wednesday in its opposition to state defendants’ motion to dismiss (read it here). “The Governor seeks to evade responsibility for his actions on a narrower ground, asserting that a governor cannot be held officially liable for implementing, administering, and enforcing state laws that punish residents for political statements violating a state-prescribed speech code,” the company added with personal emphasis on the notoriously thin skinned DeSantis. “The motion seeks dismissal on Article III standing, sovereign-immunity, and legislative-immunity grounds, but those principles have no application here.” Line drawn, sand.

Disney initially filed its suit against the governor in April, claiming that he violated the company’s First Amendment rights by retaliating against its opposition to a parental rights law, also known as “don’t say gay.” Represented by legal pit bull Daniel Petrocelli and a legion of lawyers, the Mouse House also named as defendants the new DeSantis-selected board of the Reedy Creek special district, which was